The North Fork Spanish Apostolate is relocating its offices to the former elementary school building at St. John the Evangelist Church in Riverhead as of the end of this month. The move coincides with Sister Margaret Smyth, the driving force behind the organization that’s served the North Fork’s Spanish-speaking community for nearly 18 years, taking the helm of St. John’s Parish Social Ministry, which will be operated under the auspices of the Diocese of Rockville Centre.
“We will be able to provide more services, such as a greater number of days for food distribution,” the Rev. Larry Duncklee, pastor at St. John’s said Friday. Services will now be available four days a week, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and will continue to be staffed by parish volunteers in addition to Smyth and her staff and volunteers.
Tomorrow is the last day of operation for the present parish ministry. Its food pantry will reopen on October 1.
The diocese is leasing space in the former school building and contracting with the parish to run its social ministry, which Smyth will run alongside the Spanish ministry.
Smyth, who turns 75 next month, is excited about the expanded ministry opportunity. She is busy packing and — with the aid of the people she serves — moving nearly two decades worth of “stuff” from the offices in the Oddfellows building at the corner of Roanoke Avenue and East Second Street.
“It’s amazing the things you find,” she said yesterday, during a break from a Bible study class she leads in the cafeteria of the old school every Sunday before the 7 p.m. Spanish Mass at St. John’s. Nineteen young adults — 18 men and one woman — sat in at tables arranged in a large square, in the big, empty room. Smyth’s easy rapport with the group is obvious, as is their respect and admiration for the nun, a dynamic woman who functions as a teacher, advocate, organizer, lobbyist and fundraiser.
Though the North Fork Spanish Apostolate existed for three years prior to Smyth taking it on — 18 years ago this January, she notes — it has blossomed under her energetic leadership.
“We do the normal things — food, clothes,” Smyth said. “But we also help the community with just about everything, from dealing with DSS to taking employers to court to collect unpaid wages.”
The North Fork Spanish Apostolate, funded in part by the diocese and in part by donations, helps Spanish-speaking immigrants deal with immigration, health and financial issues. Volunteers work with parents to help them negotiate the public school system. The organization runs a parent-child program, providing parenting workshops. It runs an after-school program and has volunteers helping parents with young children in their homes. This summer, it sent 60 children to various summer camps in the area — funded by $15,000 raised in the community at two suppers in the home of a local resident.
Then there’s the spiritual ministry: Bible studies, “a huge prayer group” and Sunday Mass, where more than 600 people fill St. John’s sanctuary every week at 7 p.m.
The old school building — now called the parish center — will provide more space for the group, Smyth said. It’s a space that is already a hub of activity and a home to multiple groups and services: Head Start, St. John’s Religious Formation offices and classrooms, and various activities such as Bible studies, church choir rehearsals, movie nights, rehearsals by groups like the Riverhead Faculty and Community Theatre, and even basket-weaving and zumba classes, Duncklee said.
“It gets a lot of use,” the pastor said.
The parish closed its elementary school closed in 2003.
Significant repairs and renovations are planned for the building, including the installation of new boilers and a new roof. The work is being funded by a parish capital campaign currently underway. (See separate story.)
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